Today (14 March 2005) the Turkish Supreme Court overturned part of the Turkish law that permits foreigners to buy property in Turkey.

In 2003 Turkish law was changed to facilitate foreigners buying property in Turkey. In particular, Article 19 of the new Land Registry (tapu) Act permitted foreigners to buy in village areas of Turkey rather than simply in the tourist developments on the coast. It also permitted foreign companies to own property in Turkey and foreigners to own more than 30 hectares of land in Turkey. The same law eased the restrictions on foreigners inheriting in Turkey and on the various secondary rights like granting and taking mortgages.

The Supreme Court has overturned that Article, so bringing back the arrangements that existed before it came into force.

The Court has directed that this decision will come into effect in three months time.

The spokesman of the court, Hasim Kilic, added that this does not mean foreigners cannot buy a property in Turkey. He explained that the current legal protections and restrictions are not sufficient. He indicated that the Turkish parliament should pass a new law within this timeframe to remedy the defects in the existing law and clarify the position.

The detailed reasoning of the Supreme Court is not yet available.

COMMENT

Thousands of foreigners, many of them British, have bought property in Turkey over the last year or two. Most of them have bought in purpose-built coastal developments and so are unlikely to be affected too much by this law. Some, however, have bought inland and some have bought large amounts of land for development purposes. Those people and any others who are concerned about their position should seek urgent legal advice.